Ep. 471 - The Growth Engine: Fueling Teams and Talent

Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief

Second in Command with Cameron Herold

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management, Careers

4.5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today's episode of the Second in Command podcast, Cameron discusses the complexities of building and optimizing a high-performing team while navigating the challenges of growth, leadership transitions, and strategic decision-making.

You'll discover the importance of identifying key roles, leveraging technology, and ensuring that each team member brings measurable value. A candid exploration of industry pitfalls reveals the common struggles leaders face when dealing with unreliable service providers, ineffective hires, and the need for clear accountability. Throughout, the emphasis remains on cutting through the noise to build a strong, results-driven organization.

You'll also get a behind-the-scenes look at an innovative hiring process that flips traditional recruitment on its head. Instead of relying on resumes and standard interviews, this approach puts candidates to the test with real-world assignments that showcase their skills, efficiency, and ability to think critically. A standout example demonstrates how one individual not only met expectations but exceeded them by incorporating AI-driven insights and delivering a polished, comprehensive strategy.

This episode is a reminder that, despite the weight of decisions and the complexity of business operations, the real goal is to enjoy the process.

If you've enjoyed this episode of the Second in Command podcast, be sure to leave a review and subscribe today!

In This Episode You'll Learn:

Why hiring project managers as a "release valve" instead of training account managers to be self-sufficient is a flawed strategy.
The importance of having a leadership team that can implement and maintain systems and processes.
The value of celebrating people who notice inefficient systems and encouraging them to speak up.
Cameron's personal analogy about the pain of getting divorced to illustrate the importance of moving on quickly.
And much more...

Resources:

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Get Cameron’s latest book "Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO"

Get Cameron’s online course – Invest In Your Leaders

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Cameron Harold, the host of the Second Command podcast. Before we dive in, there's something
0:04.4	you need to know. If you're a C-O-O-V-P operations or you're in any role where you're the second
0:10.0	command to the CEO, the C-O Alliance is the place for you. If you're the integrator to the visionary,
0:16.7	you're going to want to join us. The C-O Alliance is the world's leading community for the second command.
0:22.4	We've had over 500 members like you join from 17 countries to grow their skills,
0:27.5	connections, and confidence.
0:29.1	You'll get the tools, friendships, and a 10x guarantee to ensure that you get your money's worth.
0:34.6	Go to COOalliance.com to learn more and see if you qualify.
0:38.9	You can even book a free call with our team to ask questions. Now let's jump into this week's
0:43.3	episode. The key is to make sure that the leadership team and management team are really good
0:47.7	with putting systems and processes in place that people will follow and then hiring people
0:52.1	that are kind of interdependent so interdependent means that
0:55.8	they're dependent on the systems that we put in place they'll use the systems and the checklists that
1:01.8	are in place like the pilot on that american airlines plane that landed the plane on the hudson's river
1:06.1	or u.s airways he was in a very interdependent pilot. He would follow all the checklists all the time,
1:11.5	but when there's a fucking emergency, he's independent enough to figure it out. That's kind of what
1:16.8	you need in continuous improvement is you really need people who will create systems, put systems
1:21.8	in place, put simple systems in place, you know, look for automation, look for optimization.
1:26.7	You know, before we even want to
1:27.9	optimize a process or make sure that a process is better, do we even need to keep doing the work?
1:37.2	Welcome to the Second in Command podcast, produced by the C-O Alliance and brought to you by
1:43.4	its founder, Cameron Harold. In the second
	...

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